


Close Your Eyes and RIP

by thatsmygvn (cougarlips)



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 15:58:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8215700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cougarlips/pseuds/thatsmygvn
Summary: He was still out cold, but even if everyone was praying for a healthy recovery, the prospect of telling him his best and longest friends in this hellish world were dead was almost a scarier thought than his not returning at all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> title is from the song "King For A Day" by Pierce the Veil ft. Kellin Quinn!
> 
> i wrote this after 6x15 aired and before the finale, so we didn't know the fates of... **anyone**. this is 100% a canon divergent au: carol abandoned the group for good; glenn, michonne, rosita, and daryl were taken by saviors and held captive in their lair (+ the ladies were given the saviors' typical treatment); negan killed glenn; maggie miscarried. basically every bad thing that COULD have happened, _did_ happen in this au.

Unconscious and unresponsive, Jesus watched Harlan check on Daryl.

It had been almost two days and he still hadn’t woken up -- not that anyone was entirely eager for him to open his eyes. Once he awoke, someone would have to figure out when exactly he passed out from blood loss and exhaustion. They would have to figure out whether or not he knew about Glenn and Maggie. If he knew about Carol. If he knew about the losses they had sustained.

He was still out cold, but even if everyone was praying for a healthy recovery, the prospect of telling him his best and longest friends in this hellish world were dead was almost a scarier thought than his not returning at all.

Jesus spent a lot of time with Rick in the few days since the three were rescued, though he couldn’t say the taller man was particularly good company. Rick was furious, livid even when he saw Michonne and Rosita with bruises littering their skin and blood dried in their matted hair. He calmed when Michonne was given the okay, when he was assured nothing would have lasting physical effects on her, but his fury simply morphed into unease as Daryl remained unconscious.

Jesus took watch when Harlan needed sleep or when others simply couldn’t stay any longer, but he was rarely left alone. It was how he learned about Daryl’s past.

Maggie stayed with him a lot and would smile through gaunt cheeks. “When I met Daryl, it was almost like I never met him. He was always out searching for Carol’s daughter, or he was on lookout, or he was hunting. The first time I actually got a good look at him was when Andrea -- she was with us for a while, but she spent more time with Michonne -- shot him and the bullet just grazed him.

“He had this… it was a necklace of walker ears, and he was covered in mud and guts and blood from head to toe with a limp because he accidentally stabbed himself.” She scoffed at the memory before her eyes turned to the floor. “He almost killed himself to save that little girl.”

When Rick stayed, he never could keep the regret out of his eyes. “Daryl’s my brother,” he always said. “He never thinks about what his actions could mean for _him_. All he cares about is protecting the group. I mean, first it was finding Merle but then with Sophia going missing and Lori--” he stopped and ran a hand across his eyes. “When Judith was born, _everything_ he did was to protect her and the kids. He didn’t let anything stop him, not even his own blood.”

“I hope I get to know him myself,” Jesus said.

Rick released a trembling breath. “I just…” he trailed off before shaking his head and swallowing the lump in his throat. “I was in a coma when the world… when _this_ happened. I woke up alone and had to find out the hard way everything that went down.”

Rick looked up, his gray eyes meeting Jesus’s blue, pained and sincere. “I can’t let Daryl wake up alone and have him find all of this out on his own.”

Jesus met his gaze evenly. Leaning forward with his elbows pressed on his knees, he nodded at Rick. “He won’t. You won’t let that happen. _I_ won’t let that happen.”

**Author's Note:**

> im on tumblr at [@thatsmygvn](http://thatsmygvn.tumblr.com)!  
> PS: i live for feedback!


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